The Devil Or The Deep Blue Sea (An Infinity War Fix It)
by Rasi10
Summary: During the time Doctor Strange was reviewing his outcomes of winning, he drags along Tony with him to strategize. Out of the millions of outcomes, they discover only two. Which one will they choose? What will happen if they execute the option they chose? Hope you all will like it! Its counterpart is to be known as Time Heals Everything. (COMPLETED FOR NOW)
1. Chapter 1

_**Sometimes, we have to make tough choices. Either gain a short victory and suffer for a long time after or suffer for sometime and enjoy your victory for a long time. It always ends in a simple choice you choose. Most of us don't realise that our hardest falls always makes us stronger to fight back and reach the top.**_

 _ **This is somewhat similar except that they had 3 choices: One with temporary victory and the other two with temporary suffering and pain. They of course eliminate option 1, which leads us to the other two options.**_

 _ **Which one will they choose? The Devil which leads to a path of short suffering and a victory with a lot of bittersweet memories that no one can forget or The Deep Blue Sea, which leads to a longer path of suffering but in the end lets them have more bearable memories without much of what they went through?**_

Dr. Stephen Strange, also known as the Sorcerer Supreme, Master of Mystic Arts was going through all the outcomes from their war with Thanos and came up with 3 situations out of the millions from which they would win.

Catching a glimpse of the three, he comes out of his trance and glances around, trying to spot the man he wanted. With a grin on his face that showed he found whoever he was searching for, he headed towards the group and just said "Excuse me gentlemen, I don't think you would mind if I borrow Tony for a minute or two? We need to discuss something ." before just dragging Tony away.

Tony was initially annoyed on the doctor for dragging him away from the guardians group and spidey but shut up the minute he saw the look on his face. "Why did you pull me out, why not the others?" Tony asked and Strange remained silent.

"I guess the outcomes were bad then? Do we win in any one of them?" Tony asked. Strange just looked at him. "We do win but not without a price. And you are the key person for winning in each case." Strange replied.

"And what is the price we have to pay in order to win?" Tony queried, guessing the reply as Strange had called him only and not the others to plan. "We have to lose and let half the population disintegrate, including me" Strange said with a sigh.

"Even Peter?" Tony asked fearfully. "Everyone on this planet... Titan excluding Tony and that robotic woman to be specific." Strange explained. "And no other option to win? How many were there?" Tony asked, hating the prospect of letting half the world disappear randomly in order to win.

"Out of the millions of outcome, we only win in 3. One leads to temporary victory but a long suffering while the other two have temporary defeat and suffering but the final outcome is beneficial." Strange explained.

"Show me all the three outcomes then. I would need to check all the three if we want to form a plan." Tony ordered. Strange obliged and they both plunged into situation 1.

 _It was a scene where all of them were fighting Thanos and seemed to be winning on taking off the gauntlet as planned and had succeeded in it without Thanos managing to rile up anyone. They had the gauntlet and returned to Earth in glory and were rejoicing their victory._

 _But the said victory was unfortunately short lived as a few days later, Thanos had brought his whole force and launched an open sudden attack on everyone, and even though everyone had been assembled there, they were overpowered and lost to Thanos, the stones were served in a silver platter to Thanos as they were all in the same place, and everyone got killed as they let their guards down._

"Can we not be able to change the outcome of this even by not letting our guards down?" Tony asked. "Well... it is not possible as each time we defeat him, he grows more powerful until he kills all of you. And it is also a fixed event and there are a whole lot of rules so... not possible man." Strange explained. "Then not this option Stark?"

"No shit Sherlock. There is no way we are going to let that happen. How can you show this as us winning!" exclaimed Tony. "Well... I didn't see the full thing in my defence and I stopped when we won." Strange replied sheepishly.

"Alright Strange. If the other two are similar, then I will personally kill you, bring you back after learning to use the time stone or with the help of your friend and kill you again." warned Tony. "I got your warning Stark. Now onto situation 2" Strange said as they plunged into the second situation.

 _In this situation, half the population had gone, thanks to a certain Peter Quill, Tony and Nebula go to Wakanda, the survivors plan and defeat Thanos. Everyone is happy, the end._

 **(A/N: I am not revealing the whole plot as what is the fun there? You can come up with your own theories but that is the main plot. I am not going to copy other book plots for this. Just the base ones are similar. The deals will be my own.)**

"This one seems more favourable. I think the only way you mentioned here is a code for whatever plan we make now right?" Tony asked. "Caught that one correctly Stark. But I will wait until you've seen the last one and then you decide on which you choose." Strange said and then they plunge into situation 3.

 _In this case, two people somehow time travel to a point in their lives, makes subtle changes and then they face Thanos, all ready to defeat him without trying to change much of the time line. And they win finally after a long battle, everyone is happy._

"Situation 3 seems hard and long" Tony remarked. "No shit Sherlock. It is hard and long but as I said, it is the most beneficial as it has the least casualties" Strange said.

"So... you want me to choose out of these two as I am the key player?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, it is your choice. Choose well Stark. We can proceed with our plan only after you choose and we don't have much time. Which of the two do you choose?"

"I choose..."

 **A/N: So this chapter is just a jist of the choices given. Obviously out of the 3, one was out as they had to follow the timeframe and it cannot be changed as it was fixed. So... which one will Tony choose? What will be the plan? Find it out in the book. And which one do you choose? 2 or 3?**

 **Hope you all liked it! All comments and criticism are accepted and appreciated.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Rasnak signing off :) ;)**

 **UPDATED ON 26 JULY 2018**

 **Ps: I might edit it soon as it is a little shitty**


	2. Chapter 2

_**"Yes, it is your choice. Choose well Stark. We can proceed with our plan only after you choose and we don't have much time. Which of the two do you choose?"**_

 _ **"I choose..."**_

"I choose the devil for now. Lets go through option two again. I have a plan for it but I need to get it right." Tony said to Strange, letting out his decision. They revisited the second vision as requested when Tony saw something that seemed Strange. **(No pun intended but oh well)**

"Isn't that...?" Tony asked, pointing to a particular scene. "It is but... How the hell? Unless..." he trailed off, a sudden idea popping into his mind. "I think we got our plan" Tony and Strange said in unison and discussed enthusiastically and finally finished their plan.

"Now, only to execute it properly..." Tony said as Strange got them out of the dimension and unfroze time.

 ** _Time skip to the time the team battles Thanos on Titan after Quill loses his temper_**

"I hope you don't mess up with the plan Stark" Strange quietly says as he watched Tony fight Thanos. He knew that the weapons Tony had on his armour will momentarily defeat Thanos but he also knew that the underplay was necessary so that they had an advantage when they were going to defeat Thanos once and for all.

And luckily for him, Tony does not mess up and he soon hands over the time stone to him, bargaining for Tony's life. He is hurt more than planned but... not everything can be determined... can it?

"Not exactly what was planned but still ok" Tony said as he sat up with the help of Peter, crudely wrapping up the wound with something. "What do you think he is going to do now Strange?" Tony asked.

"Go to wherever the Mind Stone is I guess. And by the things you told, it was on Earth with the rest of your team..." Tony winced at the mention of the team but everyone ignored it "... but out of all the possible outcomes which was millions, we only... Uh oh!" Strange stopped short as he heard Mantis say "I don't feel good" before turning to ashes.

Mantis was followed by Drax and Quill and soon, it was time for Strange to disappear. "Its the only way Tony." he said and raised his eyebrow slightly with a small smirk before completely turning to dust. "Mr. Stark... I don't feel good" Peter said from somewhere and Tony immediately rushed to him.

"It will be alright kiddo nothing will happen to you." Tony cried out softly as he held him tight, not wanting him to go even though he knew the outcome. "Mr. Stark I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I want to be here Mr. Stark" Peter begged as he started disintegrating. Tony just held on muttering nonsensical things to calm himself and Peter down until he finally vanished.

Tony just sat there, staring at his arms where once Peter was, still in a trance. He had braced himself for this moment from the time he had seen the future shown by Strange but to feel it was completely overwhelming for him. The boy who he had thought as a friend was gone, along with his newly found friends.

Nebula slowly came forward and placed a hand on the metal man... Stark they called him, for once unsure on what they should do. She definitely knew that they had to kill Thanos but doing it single handed or with just with two people was nearly impossible, that much she knew for sure.

All of here family had perished in the hands of Thanos - her adoptive sister, her boyfriend and their crew (she didn't know what happened to the Raccoon and tree) and the spider and the magician were also gone.

Tony jerked out of his musings, he was about to delve deeper when Nebula had brought him back to the real world. "So its just you and me here?" she asked, startling Tony a little before he remembered that she had also survived. He just hated fate for that a little.

"Yeah... just you and me. Sorry about your sister and her friends." Tony said as he slowly raised up, wincing slightly at the wound on his side being jolted roughly. "Sorry about that kid too. Was he yours?" she asked, totally not used to all these sentimental talks.

"Not my kid... just someone very close though. Oh god! His aunt is going to kill me if she is alive and comes to know!" Tony exclaimed, the thought of aunt May striking right then. Did she also disappear? Or was she still there?

"I figure it is the best to get back to the jet right now and set course to your planet... I figure that the last stone was on your planet?" Nebula asked as they headed to the jet. "Yes it was. I figure that the team on Earth failed to save it seeing whatever happened." Tony said.

"Nebula, adopted daughter of Thanos" Nebula introduced herself, spitting out the name of Thanos like it was poison. "Tony Stark, Ironman" he said as he held out his hand, that Nebula took immediately.

"I guess the only thing we can do is to go back to Earth and hope that the rest of them are there... whoever is left..." Tony muttered the last part as they boarded the ship. "We need reinforcements and can't battle him alone Stark. I know him the best out of you lot" Nebula said as she started the jet and turned to Tony.

"Coordinates to the place we need to go?" she asked, waiting for him to reply as he thought. "Hm... I would suggest New York but if I am right... they battled in Wakanda so set it to Wakanda. We can move on from there. And I am look at the arm while on the way. It has been banged up pretty badly" Tony said.

"Well, before that you stop bleeding then look at it. It might be a little advance but seeing your suit... I think you can handle it" she said cautiously as she saw how Tony's eyes lit up. She went inside the ship once she was sure that it would be steady without her controlling it.

"Pain meds... pain meds..." she muttered as she went through the shelf she presumed had Terran friendly medicines and finally found it. When she returned with the meds though, she was greeted with the sight of Stark trying to put on his helmet and shouting.

"And what are you trying to do? We will reach the destination in about a day's time." she asked as she handed him some water with the pain meds. "Trying to contact some people via the suit but seems like FRIDAY is offline until we reach Earth's atmosphere. Thank you." he said, gulping down the medicine.

He then heated some loose piece of metal with his repulsor and quickly placed it at the wound, hissing at the contact but effectively sealing it for a while. "That's done with my wound. Now your arm... what the hell metal lady! How much of your body is made of metal?" he exclaimed.

"Honestly... I don't know, you can say a part of my body is completely metal... a leg, an arm, a part of my face, chest... I don't know more about my internal organs though. I think they were recently placed when he tortured me but I have yet to see." Nebula said, shrugging as Tony whistled.

"Ok then. I will check it out when we get back. Now sit still as I look into it. It might hurt a little but I can fix it soon. I think your motor skills are not that well?" Tony asked as he assessed the arm.

"You are right. I can usually feel with this arm but not it doesn't have any senses and feels a little funny." she said as she unscrewed it and gave to Tony, who absentmindedly looked at it and tweaked here and there while thinking about the others on Earth.

He had to inform Wong about Stephen and Aunt May about Peter. And it was also about time t make up with the rest of the team, call a truce with them on what happened with the Accords and Siberia... he had forgiven accepted it a long time ago but never had the guts to face them after all that had happened

He had also wondered what had happened to Bucky. He had understood the situation Bucky had been in but the rage and hurt that consumed him at Steve and Bucky not telling him was more than the understanding part and he regretted that the moment the fight ended but could never gather courage to go and visit them.

Were they still in one piece? Bruce? Natasha? Rhodey? His thoughts consumed him too much that after he fixed up the arm, he promptly fell asleep, worrying about who was left on Earth, after telling Nebula to wake him up when they were in the atmosphere of Earth.

Meanwhile, the ones who battled in Wakanda were also not coping well with whatever happened. Steve had lost Bucky and Sam, Natasha was dead worried about Clint, Rocket was still in shock about Groot and worried about the rest of his team, Wakanda had lost its King and half of its population.

Bruce was overly worried about the ones who went outer space, he could very well conclude that they had lost but he could not help but worry about the 3 of them who went out of space to stop Thanos.

He slowly approached Steve, who was sitting beside the place Bucky used to be. "I'm sorry about your friends" Bruce said as he approached him and crouched next to him. "They were great people, everyone who disappeared. Why did they have to go?" Steve said slowly, tears wetting his face.

"Don't worry Steve. We will fix this. We also are responsible to let to know the people who have lost their dear ones today. We will try to find a way to fix this though. Don't worry about it. There are still people by your side" Bruce said, placing a comforting hand on Steve as they stood up just in time for Okoye to call them to the palace due to the summons of Princess Shuri.

They all headed to the palace, joined by the other survivors in Wakanda and were soon in the meeting place with the Princess. "To all those who don't know me, I'm Shuri, the younger sister of T'Challa. And before you ask me, I am not interested in taking over the throne. I am more of the engineering type. I temporarily appoint M'Baku as the king while I'm willing to be a consultant" Shuri stated.

"Sorry for your loss Princess. We were hoping that we could stay over here for a few days so that we could regroup and come up with a plan to defeat him. We believe that there may be a chance to reverse it all." Steve explained.

"Very well. I give you my permission to do so. I am sorry about your loss to Steve. The White Wolf was surely a great friend. Meetings dismissed for today. Any planning and discussions will be done tomorrow after the coronation of the king. Rest well" Shuri said and everyone dispersed.

Bruce immediately tried to contact Tony through his suit but always turned into voice mail, indicating that either FRIDAY was offline or Tony had disappeared. But for now, he had still yet to catch up for the two years he had been away.

"What happened between you and Tony? He was a little hesitant to call you when we met." Bruce queried. Steve stopped still and hesitated a little before dragging him into his room. "It is a really long story. Long version or the short one?" Steve asked and sighed when Bruce asked for the long one, telling that they had plenty of time.

So Steve sat down, narrating about everything that had happened since he had left... the Accords, the two teams that were formed from one, the fights and rifts that happened, the hiding and the partition along with his regrets on his actions, Bruce sat through all this, listening patiently, both not noticing the rest of the new and old team coming in.

"So it all happened due to a difference of opinion?" Thor asked as Steve finished. "And a secret that was kept from someone who had to know it" Steve admitted. "Don't worry though. I am calling it a truce. I miss working together." Steve said.

"Good. Because Tony was also thinking on the same lines before he left but didn't have the courage to call you." Bruce said. "Just hope he survived. Any information from his side? Actually where is he right now?" Natasha asked.

"The last I saw him before coming here was when he went after that Strange guy out of space with Spiderman. I have called him since then, he didn't even respond." Bruce said. "Me too. I tried calling him but he didn't respond. Happy has been worried and I don't know how he will take the news of Pepper being gone if he comes back." Rhodey said and sighed

"What happened while you were away Bruce? You never told us what happened? Also I called Clint and Ant Man but they have yet to respond. Maybe we should talk on what happened to each other these past few years to understand the situation better." Natasha accepted and everyone accepted the change in topic and discussed whatever happened till they went to sleep.

 **A/N: That is the first main chapter of this book. Hope you all will like it! All comments and criticism accepted. The next chapter will most likely be Tony coming home. I know I killed off Pepper, not like I don't like her but for once let a fic be Pepper dying. All comments and criticism accepted.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Rasi10 signing off**

 **Published on 3 August 2018**


	3. Chapter 3

**_**Were they still in one piece? Bruce? Natasha? Rhodey? His thoughts consumed him too much that after he fixed up the arm, he promptly fell asleep, worrying about who was left on Earth, after telling Nebula to wake him up when they were in the atmosphere of Earth.**_**

Nebula also had fallen asleep after setting the ship's alarm to wake her up after two hours, the exhaustion and fatigue of the day catching up with her. So, two hours later, both of them were woken up by the blaring alarm signalling that they had identified an unidentified object floating near the ship.

Tony had immediately taken off with his armour and caught up with the object, which turned out to be a man who was barely alive. He immediately brought him in and tried to fix up all his injuries as much as he could, the body was burnt badly but fortunately none of the organs were touched. He also had a bruised neck.

The moment Tony and Nebula had cleaned up the face off the soot and blood, Tony was shocked that the face was somewhat familiar, and seemed to be muttering something about stone men and warrior women.

Not wanting to leave the guy somewhere in space, he decided that he should tag along with them to get proper medical attention. So they continued the journey to Earth with the man sleeping in one of the beds that had straps available so that he would not roll off and hurt himself more.

The duo too soon fell asleep after treating the guy how much ever they could with the medical supplies and knowledge they had with them. The next interruption was the alarm blaring to signal that they were in Earth's atmosphere.

"Set the coordinates to Wakanda. I am going to try to call up any one of them to see if they respond." Tony said and activated his suit, sighing in relief to hear FRIDAY's voice again. "Contact Rhodey FRIDAY, Its great to see you. "Great to see you too Sir. Contacting Colonel Rhodes immediately." she said and Tony sighed in relief when he picked it up immediately.

"TONY! Are you alright? Where are you? Are the others who went with you Ok? Bruce told that the last he saw you was when you guys went out of space with spidey and sorcerer. What happened?" Rhodey quickly ranted out.

"I am alright here Rhodey. A lot happened and as you guessed, we failed in keeping Thanos from getting the time stone. You are in Wakanda I hope. Myself and some others are currently on our way there. Would've informed you earlier but suit went down. Just signal us where to land ok? We will be there in a few. Oh! And get a medical team ready." Tony said and cut the call.

Rhodes, who had put the whole conversation on the speaker was almost ready to cry out happily at the prospect of his friend being alive but sobered up immediately at the thought of having to deliver the news of Pepper's death to him. He quietly motioned the team to follow him to an open field to meet Tony and the other survivors.

The group had actually just assembled to attend the coronation of the new king when Tony had called up. The team immediately went and informed the princess and the to be king about the new situation before they all went to the field to wait for Tony and the other survivors from there.

Soon, the jet had landed and everyone were waiting in bathed breath on who would come out. The ranch(?) opened and out stepped Tony and a metal lady, both carrying someone between them.

The medical team immediately rushed the person to the hospital to treat him while Rhodey approached Tony slowly and hugged him, who hugged him back immediately, ignoring the pain on his side momentarily. "I'm glad that you are alive" they both muttered over and over again.

Tony broke the hug and asked one question that he shouldn't have asked then. "Where is Pepper Platypus? What happened to Happy?" He asked. Rhodes went silent, answering Tony's along with that.

"Dammit... Pepper cannot be gone. Not right now... not when she was... no no no... This can't happen" he kept on muttering trying to calm himself down before he broke down. "I see you have copied Thor's beard there Rogers." Tony said, smiling at Steve.

"Good to see you too Tony. Guess we can call a truce for now and sort it out later?" Steve asked as he went towards Tony. "No Steve. I think we both have to have a serious discussion about it as we both did not react well to it. I think it is time we put it past us." Tony said and embraced Steve.

"And I think that will do good. Who was that guy who the team just took away? And who is that girl with you?" Steve asked. "Oh! That is Nebula, she helped fighting Thanos back there. She is Thanos' adopted daughter and is currently on a revenge spree on him for killing her sister." Tony explained before anyone went hostile on her.

"Gamora is dead? What about the others?" Rocket asked as he slowly made his way to the front. "Yeah Tony... where is Strange and Spider guy who went with you?" Bruce asked. Looking at the long faces of the two who were questioned, everyone gained a look of understanding.

"Strange sacrificed the stone to save me. Gave it saying that it was the only way before he went away. We almost managed to take away that gauntlet of his but Quill just had to ask about Gamora and everything went downhill from there. I think it was for the best from what Strange said before he went." Tony said, muttering the last part.

"What happened here? Who did we lose? From the beginning of the battle, that means from you Thor and Bruce." Tony asked, bracing himself to hear whoever they lost. "Ragnarok happened and Asgard was destroyed. Some of us managed to escape but we were intercepted by Thanos. I managed to send most of them away on another ship but Loki, Heimdall and a few others were on the ship." Thor recounted.

"And then, Thanos asked Loki, who apparently had been sent to Earth by him back then for the tesseract that housed the space stone and Loki gave it and tried to kill him but was killed in the process by Heimdall. Hulk tried to intercept but was thrown away and Heimdall managed to send him back before he was killed. The ship was then blasted and I met Rabbit here." Thor said.

"Rocket not Rabbit" Rocket muttered. "Anyways, I will continue from here. I was travelling with Groot, Peter, Gamora, Mantis and Drax when he landed on our ship and asked to go to some planet. We were planning on going to Titan to intercept Thanos so we split up. Groot and I accompanied Thor while the others went to Titan."

"What happened to the hammer Thor?" Tony asked, still not wanting to discuss about that man he had brought there. "It was destroyed by my sister so I had to get this new axe with the help of tree and Rocket. We came to Earth just in time to fight Thanos' army. .I don't know what happened in between."

"Well... Bruce landed at Strange's sanctum and explained everything after roping me into it. Just then those minions attacked and we fought, spidey joined in and we were able to fight off until they captured Strange and went off. Spidey and I followed them. I told him not to come but still, he came after me. Stupid hero complex" Tony muttered.

"Anyways, we managed to set Strange free and we landed on that planet... Titan? And then we met that Racoon's group, who attacked us." Tony said, pointing to Rocket accusingly. "Was Gamora there by any chance?" he asked.

"Nope... Thanos had threatened to harm me if Gamora didn't tell where the soul stone was and so she went with his and he sacrificed her for the stone. I managed to escape and joined the group on Titan and the battle started when Thanos came. We almost defeated him but Quill somehow spoiled it." Nebula said, staring sympathetically at Rocket.

"Some of us managed to go against him single handedly but ultimately Thanos said that if Strange didn't give up the stone, he would kill me and so Strange gave it up, later on telling that he had viewed many options and had seen only one outcome that could make us win..." Tony said.

"Well... I guess after he got the time stone, he came here. Bruce got in contact with us and all of us gathered here in Wakanda, figuring out that we could extract the mind stone out of Vision without killing him here but the battle started before we could take any action on that." Steve said.

"Wanda was set to take out the stone and she did it successfully while we that is myself, Sam, Steve, Bucky, T'Challa, Bruce was in that Hulk Buster thing and a few others with Thor joining later on. Thanos came, reversed time, took away the stone and we tried to stop him but then he snapped his fingers and everyone started disappearing." Rhodey recounted.

"Wanda, Bucky, Sam, T'Challa, Groot and a few others along with half the population of the world is gone." Steve said. "And there about at the same time, we were planning on regrouping and planning to come down here when Mantis went, followed by Drax and Starlord." Nebula said.

"And then it was Strange, who went saying that it was the only way followed by Spiderman. That guy was just... why didn't he listen to me and stay behind instead of fighting? He is so grounded when he comes back." Tony said.

"I have been wanting to ask you this from before Thanos attacked us but why had Strange called you up to 'talk about' back then?" Nebula asked. "Something about a plan he had and had refused to explain it to me. Just said that I need to focus on that gauntlet of his." Tony said, not wishing to reveal that he knew what was going to happen.

"How old is Spiderman Tony? You sound like a concerned parent over him. Like he was a kid." Rhodey asked, a little suspicious. "Well... might as well call him one the way he acts around all the time. But a bloody genius that he is. I won't deny that fact. Argh! Now I need to face the music with his aunt." Tony muttered and gasped as he suddenly jolted his side.

"I think it is better for Stark to go the infirmary or hospital or whatever. He is badly banged up and is purely running on adrenaline. It can rush out anytime... now" Nebula said as he started to crash, caught immediately by Steve and Rhodey and taken to the infirmary.

"Who was that person you got in back there?" Thor asked, once everyone had settled down around Tony, who was currently sedated after the check up. The rest were just catching up with everything that was told to them while Tony was being treated.

"I think Stark had recognised him. I don't know. We should ask him after he wakes as the person is still being treated. After all, the burns he had were very serious. It is amazing that he is still alive with the damage they did. Amazingly, it didn't damage his nerves or organs. Just the skin" Nebula informed.

"Those were some harsh burns. We could see it from the distance. Who do you think he is?" Shuri asked. "I don't know. We can't tell until Tony wakes up or at least until we are allowed to see that man." Steve said.

Suddenly, everyone were distracted from the groan and a series of coughs from the bed. "Pepper? Pete?" Tony called out as he came back to the land of the living. "Pepper is gone Tony. And who is Pete?" Rhodey asked.

"Peter Parker, Spidey? And you can't be serious that Pepper is gone!" exclaimed Tony, only later realising that he had let out Peter's secret. "Peter Parker? Your 16 year old intern was Spiderman! Gods Tony! And what was that about Pepper? Happy told that they were near the hospital when it happened, something about a check up or something." Rhodey said.

"Pepper is... she was... she was pregnant Rhodey." Tony said, barely able to spill it out. "And yes, Peter was just a teenager who had spider powers. I told him not to come but he never listened. Always too stubborn. And I am sorry about Bucky and Sam Steve" Tony said.

Steve was about to rant about dragging a teenager into everything but shut up and settled on saying a "I am sorry about your loss too." as he knew that all these fights were unnecessary right then. They had other pressing matters to deal with. "Who was that guy with you Tony? Nebula said that you seemed to know him?" Steve asked.

"Well... now that I think of it... I know him. What happened to Clint and Antman? Any news on that front?" Tony asked trying to prolong the inevitable. "No new from their front Tony. Now stop stalling and tell us."

"Alright, on our way to Earth, this guy bumped into the aircraft. We rescued him and partly treated him. And I was shocked to see him there. Guys... that was..."

 ** **A/N: Who was it? The one who gets it, congratulations. I think I have given a clue, a big one already so... it must be easy to find out. Hope you all liked it! All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated.****

 ** **Thank you all for reading!****

 ** **Rasi10 signing out****

 ** **Published on 8 August 2018****


	4. Chapter 4

**_**"Alright, on our way to Earth, this guy bumped into the aircraft. We rescued him and partly treated him. And I was shocked to see him there. Guys... that was..."**_**

"That was who Tony?" Steve asked when a phone suddenly started ringing and everyone started looking around until they figured out that the phone was Natasha's. "Hello?... Oh my god What!... Ok come to Wakanda... coordinates are... Be safe... I am sorry for what happened... Bye" she said and cut the call, looking near tears.

"Who was it Nat?" Tony asked. "Clint Tony. Apparently, no one survived from his family and he is devastated. And also seems like most of the SHIELD agents are gone. No sign of Antman or his family." Nat explained and burst to tears just when a portal opened.

"I did not find him. Did you meet him by any chance?" the mysterious cloaked person asked. "Yup, still in medical. Lots of burns and all. Loki had had a number on him apparently" Tony replied.

"Loki" chorused everyone in the room. "And who are you?" Rocket asked. "Strange, get that ass up already. We have planning to do." the mysterious person said. "But isnt that Tony?" Steve asked.

"Well... we may have switched ourselves?" the cloaked one said sheepishly before "Strange" waved his hand, revealing that the one on bed is indeed Strange while the cloaked one was revealed to be Tony.

"Why did you change? And how did you act that perfectly?" Natasha asked. "We established a mind link between the two of us so... we could direct thoughts and conversations between one another. So all of them were genuine replies given from Tony." Strange explained.

"How did Tony create the portal then?" Steve asked. "Apparently he also had studied a little magic after Afghanistan due to the condition he has. So it was easier for us to do this." Strange said.

"And what was the talk about my brother? He died" Thor deadpanned. "Apparently not as I had seen a vision where he was fighting Thanos after the snap. So we split ways to find him and I had encountered him on my way back. Managed to heal him a little using magic but it drained a lot out of me."

"And considering the fact that we created something that is somewhat like a twin bond, his wounds are mine and mine are his, his exhaustion affected me while my wound affected him. So we were totally exhausted to do anything properly until we were in our own bodies. To simply put it, our souls were spit into half, half in each body" Tony said.

"So... that means Loki is alive?" Thor asked hopefully. "He is alive and will wake up in a day. We can discuss the plans tomorrow as we are in need of some well needed rest and time to grieve. We have a plan and we will tell it tomorrow" Strange and Tony said in sync, which was creepy. But everyone heeded to it and went to rest.

Rocket was destroyed. The family he had built within the Guardians was all gone, Gamora was sacrificed and the rest were gone, especially his son Groot, leaving with that robot lady. The family which had started to take him in and change him was gone.

Steve was more likely devastated. The friend he thought he had lost once had comeback to him again, finally healed and now he was again gone, leaving him alone. Sam, who had helped him a lot and another person he had considered a friend was gone.

Wanda, another person who was close to him was gone. All the three people who were close to him and helped him the most were gone, leaving him all alone somewhere out of his time was something that tore him apart.

Along with the fact that there had just been a civil war and the rest of them were not in the best terms with each other or didn't know each other was another fact that Steve hated.

Natasha was just holding together somehow. She had become great friends with Sam and Wanda and to see them die was something that broke her a little. After hearing the news of the Barton family almost dying though, she was barely able to hold herself together. The emotionless spy was almost broken.

Nebula didn't know what to feel. She knew her sister had been sacrificed, her friends and boyfriend had been snapped away and she literally no one who could actually understand her (Not that she knew anyone that much to reach that conclusion). She just knew that she was maybe angry and sad and had lots of hatred.

Strange didn't lose anyone that close as he knew that his girlfriend and Wong were still alive, thanks to the time stone but still felt empathetic to the rest of the world on their loses and being the Sorcerer Supreme, it was his duty to protect and people who he had recently come to like dying didn't do any good.

Rhodes was basically empathetic towards everyone who had lost someone precious as he knew what war can do, being in the army and all and losing his best friend only added on to it. He felt a pang in his heart for all those who had lost their lives that day, whether enemy or friend.

Bruce was frustrated and hell a lot angry. He had not been on Earth for the past two years, that is true but that didn't mean that he didn't lose someone in this fiasco. The friends he had made before and the recently made ones he had lost made him devastated.

At the same time, he was frustrated and hell a lot of angry at the fact that he could still feel Hulk in the back of his mind and could still connect and contact him and contrary to the popular belief have a conversation with him but could not let him out when he was needed the most to save his friends.

Thor and Tony were... simply to say, shattered and broken to pieces. True that Thor was happy that Loki was still alive but he had lost him home, half his subjects and didn't know where the other half were and also had lost his father and lived through many battles and all the guilts weighing down at him were not a good combo.

Tony was in a similar state, if not more than what Thor was feeling. After all, he had envisioned Thanos doing this sooner and was one of the first who knew of this threat and even though he made all effort to prevent this, it still happened.

Being able to see a glimpse of the future totally sucked man, thanks to the portal. And losing his girlfriend, unborn child and a teen that he had considered a child, one of his first friends turned robot dying was the last straw for him. It had hurt worse than Obie's betrayal, all the torture he had faced in the years.

Loki in fact was the one that was the most broken of all one could say. After all, he had been tortured, mind controlled, emotionally abused at some point of time, secrets were kept from him even though they were the most necessary ones he had to know the most, and finally the fact that he had been brought up with contradicting beliefs and always underestimated or unwanted broke him completely.

Thanos was one of the main reasons that he was broken (literally and figuratively) After all he was the one who had who had broken him the most, controlling his mind, increasing his hatred and insecurities, making him do things that he normally won't do (Even though he might do some things, attacking cities with alien armies was not one of them)

Wakanda was lost, lost without the king or the queen or half its subjects. All of them were ultimately driven only by one fact, and that is to defeat Thanos and get whatever they had lost.

 ** **A/N: This was a small filler like chapter with a small look into what each character. Hope you all liked it! Loki and Strange are alive! Though I did mess up the Strange and Tony thing but never mind. All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated.****

 ** **And do you think I should write the other alternative side by side to this one as a separate book? If yes, any book title suggestions are accepted, as long as it matches the short description that was in the first chapter (Viewing Choices)****

 ** **Thank you all for reading!****

 ** **Rasi10 signing off****

 ** **Published on 11 August 2018****


	5. Chapter 5

****A/N: If you hadn't noticed before, the alternative of this book has also been published under the name 'Time Heals Everything'. So if you like it, check it out. Now on with the story.****

When the survivors were all well rested, they all agreed that they need to wait for Clint to come and Loki to wake up before they discuss more about the situation. Until then, the only main event that happened was the coronation.

It was a silent affair. After all, most of the subjects were missing, many of them had lost everything and the loss was too fresh for them to rejoice the new king. Everyone tried to be happy, even though they could see that the others were still trying to cope up.

The avengers were another story. Thor refused to leave the med bay, insisting that he must stay with Loki until he gets well, being the only one who is still left and all. The rest were quietly talking in groups, sharing some funny past experiences and all.

Tony, along with Bruce and Shuri were mostly found in the labs, talking on how to fix up Vision as there was a chance to revive him, though he won't be as strong as before.

Wong had joined them at some point of time and the sorcerers were always seen together, apart from Tony, who spent equal time in the labs.

It took two days for Clint to come, who had apparently checked upon Scott's house to see if there were any survivors, only to find Cassie there all alone. Scott had apparently gone out for a mission and had yet to return and so Clint came back with Cassie.

Coincidentally, it was the day Loki showed signs of waking up. Thor had been ecstatic when Loki had finally gained consciousness, even if it was only for a few minutes, Thor looked like he was going to hug Loki to death but somehow had held back and just made a small conversation before leaving Loki to rest again.

Loki had been making progress very well for the amount of damage that had been done. Everyone had expected him to be out for more than a week but had considerably made quite a progress in two days, even though he cannot move or talk without pain. Perks of being a god.

By the time Loki had healed enough to walk around and converse mentally, i.e. 3 days later the team had the first official meeting that was to brainstorm every time they had come in contact with the infinity stone and how it had affected them.

"Guess then I must start with the tale." Steve said after everyone had settled down. "I had seen the tesseract, also known as the space stone when I was fighting in the war. HYDRA had been powering their weapons with that thing. And then he first time I saw it was the day I went down. Red Skull had touched it and I thought he was dead but considering it can be used in inter dimension travel, I won't be surprised if I met him in space. And after that I submerged the ship with myself and the stone into the sea." Steve said.

"And dad had found it while he was searching for the Captain and gave it to SHIELD, who used it to create weapons again, thus leading Loki to us." Tony said.

 _"Honestly speaking, it was not my fault that I came after that stone. After I had fallen off that Bifrost, Thanos captured me and tortured me to do it and when I refused anyways, he used the mind stone and did the job. I don't know where he got that stone from though"_ Loki explained telepathically.

"And I vouch for Loki on that as I had been there when Loki had been captured. Thanos had the wish to collect all the infinity stones for a long time so I guess he wanted the Tesseract for the stone and nothing else. I don't know why he wanted to send an army though. He was thoroughly pissed off at Loki when he lost." Nebula said.

"I'm sorry for what you had to go through Loki. Guess we have more things in common after all." Tony said with a bitter smile. "Like come on! Both of us have magic, daddy issues, were tortured to do something and so on!" Tony defended himself at the looks he had got. Thor just hugged his brother, who leaned into the touch.

"I was there when it had exploded while bringing Loki to Earth and it gave out huge amounts of energy, like unbelievably huge amounts could be practically felt from it. Then the team had a chance to come in contact with it during the invasion." Clint put in.

"It had created an energy barrier around itself that could only be broken by the spear that had the mind stone in it. The power that it let out when I shut it out was insanely huge and strong that it was a wonder that I could stand there." Natasha said.

"I guess that is all about the Space stone then. If so I will tell about the Reality Stone or known as the Aether." Thor asked and sensing no protests, he continued. "The reality stone was always fluid, like reality. The dark elves were possessing it before they were captured and it was trapped. Then it got released again and took host of Jane's body. I think Loki could tell more about it. Though it is a powerful force that is very dangerous and powerful." Thor said.

 _"The Aether, when it takes host of a body, is like a parasite. It converts all positive energy into negative ones and also sucks the life out of the host. When it resides in the host, it protects them from harm to protect itself."_ Loki explained.

"That being said about the reality stone, I think I must say about the power stone. And trust me, the story is not pretty. It was also how the group was formed actually, all of us were united because of the stone. All of us were fighting over it to get money or as it was our mission. And then Ronan came into the mission and we found out that the orb we were fighting over was the power stone." Rocket explained.

"So you didn't know about the power stone until you asked someone about what it was?" Steve asked. "Yes. And then when we were fighting Ronan, who had managed to get the stone from us, Quill had the guts to touch the stone even after knowing that it had the ability to kill a human." Rocket said, fondly shaking his head.

"So... Quill was desperate enough to touch the stone to stop this Ronan guy, knowing that it would kill him?" Rhodes asked. "Actually we all were. And the feeling is something that you don't want to go through actually. Feeling like you are burned inside out..." Rocket shuddered. "We all held onto Quill while he held onto the stone so the power was distributed and we could control it to destroy Ronan." Rocket said.

"And that stone used against you can do some serious damage. Well... I'm talking about Hulk here and Thor, considering that he had been tortured using that stone." Bruce said. "Wait! The Hulk is still present? And you have been conversing with it?" Tony asked.

Bruce seemed to think for a while before his eye colour changed and he spoke in a deeper voice that seemed to be a mix of Hulk and Bruce. "Hulk exhausted from the fight and puny Banner did not have strength to change" they said in unison. "Alright buddy, we got it. Good to see that you are recovering." Thor said.

"I guess none of us have encountered the soul stone?" Wong asked. "No one other than the keeper, Gamora and Thanos." Nebula replied. "Do we have the chance of meeting the keeper for his account of things?" Steve asked. "Maybe we will be able to do it after we finish discussing." Nebula replied.

"Talking about the soul stone... I sensed someone being trapped in there and managed to free the soul when came in contact with Thanos. I don't know whose soul that was but now I suspect that it was Gamora's soul." Tony said.

"Wait a minute. You say that there is a chance that Gamora is still alive then?" Nebula asked, astonished. "If she is, then she is probably wondering why she is there and how she was even alive." Tony answered, finally finding some sense at the thoughts of confusion that he felt for sometime.

"I knew you were well versed in soul magic but this is insane Tony! And you learnt this in two months you said!" Strange exclaimed, mouth wide open. "Wait... He learnt from the Ancient One!" Wong exclaimed. "Yes to both. My life story come later. Please focus on the task in hand please." Tony said, silencing every curious question.

"About the time stone, I kept it with me most of the time but will remove it when the power becomes overwhelming. Got me out of many tough situations. Except that one time where it was pure torture though it did work out in the end. Trust me, being in a time loop while dying is not a feeling." Strange said.

"I hope you are not talking about Dormammu here?" Wong asked. "Wait.. Dormammu attacked!" Tony asked. "A year back unfortunately." Strange said with a grimace, answering both their questions. "That is one serious shit you have gone through dude." Rocket said in awe.

 _"And finally comes the mind stone."_ said Loki, who had been quiet for a while, contemplating everything that had been said till now. _"Thanos used it against me when he captured me and sent me to earth with it."_ he said, trying to keep those memories at bay.

"Yeah being mind controlled sucks man. Don't worry. No harsh feelings between us about it man." Clint said. _"The only thing I am curious about is how Stark had been able to throw off the mind stone's magic. And don't you say it is your magic as I would've sensed it if you had used it then."_ Loki said and everyone stared at Tony, jaws hanging open while he shifted uncomfortably.

"It was not the magic for sure. I had been suspecting the arc reactor actually as one thing that I sensed when I encountered the Tessaract's energy back then felt similar to the arc's energy. I would bet that daddy dear had based the original arc reactor based on the Tessaract." Tony said.

"So... you are saying that the reactor had nullified the mind stone's effect on you?" Bruce asked. "That actually makes sense as the time stone when I first tried it out never reacted or worked with me and I had been having an arc reactor on me. But then when Wanda had done that thing, I didn't have the reactor and it was new to me but using it on me again made me immune. Does that mean anything?" Tony asked.

"If you mean that the reactor had seeped in some of its energy into you while you were wearing it and somehow made you immune to the stone's magic to such an extent that even when it was removed, you remained immune to the stones after coming in contact with it once... I think we have a solution here." Bruce said as everyone caught up with what was going on.

"Meaning, if we could somehow make an arc reactor that somehow can be inserted in us, then we can be partly immune to the stone?" Natasha asked. "Well... its just a theory and I don't know if it will work or not though as I had a deep hole in my chest, cutting through my ribs when the reactor was placed in me." Tony said and many winced at the thought.

"We'll figure something out. First of all though, I think we have an alien who is waiting for us to get her I guess." Strange said.

 ** **A/N: Finally got the chapter out. I was confused on what to write in this chapter at first but I decided to do this as I thought it was a crucial thing. Hope you all liked it! All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated.****

 ** **Thank you all for reading!****

 ** **Rasi10 signing out****

 ** **Published on 11 September 2018****


	6. Chapter 6

**_"We'll figure something out. First of all though, I think we have an alien who is waiting for us to get her I guess." Strange said._**

"Before we leave Tony, did the stone touching your reactor have some effect on you? It is important for us to know so we won't be caught unaware if we ever do that reactor if any stone was used against us?" Bruce asked.

"Well... if you consider knowing some plans of a Mad Titans inside your head as a side effect and some occasional bouts of headaches and emotional swings as side effects, the yes. It took me sometime to adjust to it." Tony said.

"And not everyone can do it especially in a short time, so no plans as of yet. Maybe lets just get the alien girl from that planet before we discuss anything else. I can't believe that you didn't tell anyone about this Tony!" Steve said.

"Well... didn't think it was important and I had gotten used to it before you moved to the tower so I was alright." Tony said. "I think my friend is still out there alone in space..." Rocket said. "Tony? You said that you had taken out only a part of her soul out right? So does that mean the gauntlet was not at its full power?" Steve asked.

"Basically, yes, it was not at its full power but thank the stars it was not otherwise there would've been more damage." Tony said. "Um... Strange? Can you maybe create portal to..." Nebula asked but shut up when Tony opened up a portal to Vormir, the guardian peeking in through the portal.

"Mmm... never knew humans were this advanced." he mused. "We ask to pick up Gamora. She is still alive." Tony said. "You look a little familiar... do I know you?" the guardian asked as he tipped back his hood slightly to get a good look at Tony, revealing a familiar red skin.

"Red Skull." Steve said in a monotone voice, barely suppressing his shock. "Oh Rogers? It is a surprise that you are still walking in there alive. The tesseract was a beautiful thing. Sent me here to become the guardian of the soul stone. A stone for a stone." Red Skull said.

"Excuse me to interrupt this reunion, but I need to meet my sister and take her back. Nebula said. "Well, not possible as it is a soul for the stone." Red Skull deadpanned. "But I can sense her soul in her you know, not complete but still there. So I don't think it applies in this situation. Let us come over." Tony said.

"But that is not possible." he whispered. "I still sense it. Would you let us through or not?" Tony asked and Red Skull silently moved aside. Tony put on his armour and brought back Gamora. "Still breathing, I think she is comatose though. Thank you." Tony said and closed the portal.

"That is one job done. The next move?" he asked. "Heal her and then plan on whatever we are going to do." Natasha said, looking at the green coloured alien. "Guess that's all we have for now. Everyone dismissed. Nebula, help me carry your sister to the med bay." Steve said.

After hooking up Gamora to life support, one of the doctors scanned her. "Your verdict doctor?" Nebula asked. "Well... I should say it is a miracle she is alive with only a part of her soul as you have said but the recovery I don't know. She might stay comatose for life or heal in a few days. It is difficult to say that now." he said.

"Guess I should be glad that she is at least alive at this point." Nebula said with a sigh and squeezed Gamora's hand before leaving, only to crash head on with Tony. "You ok?" he asked. "The doctor says that it is difficult for her to recover with only half her soul and falling from a height." Nebula said.

"It will be alright Neb. Just you wait. We are going to kick Thanos' ass and save everyone we lost." Tony reassured. "But when? We have been sitting around, chatting meaninglessly instead of planning anything!" Nebula exclaimed.

"Well Neb, we all were hurt and grieving, some of the key players are missing and some who hold a lot of information were not well. So it obviously got postponed as we cannot plan anything when we are consumed with grief as it does not end well. Trust me, I have done this and I regret the outcome." Tony said with a sad smile.

"What would we do even if we have a plan though? We don't have enough people to fight here and Thanos has a huge army with him. I know I am being a little pessimist here but that is sadly the truth." Nebula cried out.

"Its ok to cry Nebula. You are still hurting and I know you have not slept in a few days. Go and get some sleep, even a catnap and you will know the difference. Even though you are half made of metal right now, they also need rest and you are human." Tony said gently.

"I guess you are right... will you allow me to sleep with you though... I am a little scared to sleep alone after all this happening..." Nebula admitted. "Well? Having a little crush here uh? Sorry but I am taken. You can sleep in with me though. I don't mind." Tony said, initially joking but completely serious in the end.

"Thank you. Even though I have been around all of you... I think I am the most comfortable around you as you seem to understand and I think we connect a lot. I can say the same with Rocket but we were on the opposite sides for a while and we are on the edge when we are alone." Nebula said.

"Now don't get emotional on me and go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." Tony said and patted her on her shoulder as he guided her to his room. Honestly speaking, Tony wasn't having any good night's sleep either. All the nightmares from Afghanistan to Thanos was constantly haunting him and sleeping without anyone nearby did not help.

Nebula was out like light when she hit the bed, leaving Tony to stare at her, running a hand through her head as he saw her sleep peacefully, for once her face was innocent looking even with all the metal on it.

'She has had a tough life' Tony noted as he went through all that nebula had told him about herself. Soon, Tony also went to sleep beside her, unconsciously cuddling her as he slept dreamlessly for once in a long time, the same could be said to Nebula.

When Rhodey came in to check upon Tony that night, he definitely wasn't expecting Tony to be cuddling with a half cyborg assassin, sleeping peacefully, a rare sight these days. He just silently took a picture of the two of them and closed the door and retreated, not wanting to disturb the pair.

When he related this to the team, they all smiled as even though they had fallen out, all these recent events had brought them closer than ever and they could clearly see that Nebula and Tony had been hurting. They were actually happy that the two were together, intimately or as siblings, they didn't care. That was their wish.

The next morning, Nebula was the first one to wake up from a well deserved dreamless night. She thought of stretching herself a little when she noticed the hand wrapped around her waist. She slightly turned around, only to come face to face with a peaceful Tony snoring slightly, a leg thrown over and a hand around her waist.

She just stared at him for sometime before smiling slightly at the lack of the wrinkles and lines on his face, just peacefully sleeping. "Like what you are seeing?" a voice asked, startling her. "You just look peaceful in your sleep you know." Nebula whispered.

"Honestly, one of my dreamless nights in a long while. Guess we really needed it. I am sure someone must've come in and noticed us together and all." Tony said as he untangled himself off her. "I don't care. You said that you had a wife who was pregnant when she was turned to dust. And I don't think we are the couple type... More like siblings or a platonic affection or something? Maybe mutual understanding?" Nebula asked.

"Don't confuse over this right now. I think the team is waiting for us down there. Don't want them imagining things now, do we? Go to your room and freshen up. I will meet you down." Tony said as he kissed lightly on her forehead in a brotherly way.

"Thank you Tony." she said as she went outside, hearing the muffled "No problem. Thank you." from Tony and smiled. 'Maybe, they can be fixed, how much ever broken as long as someone was by their side' with a slight smile as she slipped into her room.

 **A/N: I know this is a slightly unexpected turn of events between Tony and Nebula but I assure you that they don't love each other in that way. The relationship is mostly like siblings and mutual understanding, maybe a little platonic. Tony is still paired with Pepper. Hope you all liked it! All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Rasi10 signing off**

 **Published on 18 September 2018**


	7. Chapter 7

That morning, no one mentioned about Tony and Nebula being together as they felt that they both deserved it after everything they had gone through recently. Because seriously, they desperately needed that break and a good sleep.

"Alright people, please quieten up for a while. Now that I have all your attention, I want to inform you that Vision is almost fixed up and even though he wouldn't be the same as before, he is still a part of our team and we have tried to make some upgrades on him. Shuri, what is Gamora's status right now?" Tony asked.

Nebula, who had been seen near Tony the whole day, looked up at Shuri with hope of some good news. "According to the doctors, the damage was nearly fatal and the fact that she is alive is a miracle. Though she has currently shown signs of recovery and may wake up in a few days time." Shuri said, not trying to sugar coat anything.

"But still people, we still need a plan on how we are going to defeat that guy. Just sitting around with hope that anyone would recover soon is not going to help at all. No offense, but if Thanos plans on attacking again while we wait for her to wake up is not going to help our situation here." Steve stated bluntly.

"As much as I detest to think as such, Steve is saying the truth. We have to be prepared for whatever comes in our way. I think our main concern must be on how to get back the stones from Thanos. Any plans on that?" Loki asked.

"Well... I think we might also need a gauntlet to hold each stone if we get our hands on them. I am sure that the Time stone will react to Strange, Mind to Vision, maybe the Soul stone will cooperate with me, Space with Loki, Power stone with Rocket and Aether with... Jane? I mean, all of us have come in contact with it at some point of time the most you know." Tony explained.

"I don't think the stones work that way Stark. Once all the stones are together, they have a single mentality and won't part that easily and if they do part, it won't be in that way." Loki said, not believing what Tony had suggested.

"Or... how about this... everyone contributes in distracting Thanos while Thor cuts off his hand to take the gauntlet away? That will easily end the fight and then we can undo the snap." Rhodes suggested.

"A simple and effective plan. But who will use the gauntlet? I mean, all the 6 singularities as one is a power that is hard to withstand by a mortal you know." Rocket said.

"I will do it." Tony volunteered, causing many to protest. "Shut up for a minute and listen will you? What I am saying is that, I will wear my arc reactor as it can withstand the power of the stones and maybe absorb/deflect it as we have discussed before. And since I am used to wearing it, it will be easier for me to you know, handle the reactor." Tony said.

"But some of us don't even need the reactor to withstand it Tony. And we can't guarantee that the reactor will absorb or deflect the power of all the six stones at that. Thor or I can do it Tony. Or else all of us can take one stone to defeat him but it won't reverse the snap." Loki said.

"Or maybe... we can defeat Thanos and go to an alternate universe where all our friends are there while we vanished?" Bruce asked. "Nope, that won't work as you won't know how you behave in that universe and will be very awkward you know." Strange put in.

"Yeah. We will misunderstand everything and who knows what will happen?" Tony asked. "Anyways Strange, did you see anything after what you showed me?" Tony accused.

"Maybe... I did see Tony wielding the gauntlet and some guy with a silver and red suit shrinking and enlarging rapidly?" Strange. "Which reminds me... Clint, when did Cassie see her dad the last?" Steve asked.

"Well... she said that Hank had come and taken him somewhere a few days before the snap so... no idea basically." Clint said. "Do you think it is better if we check the labs once to know where they are?" Natasha asked.

"Well... no harm done in that. I guess I will sling you there you know. Before that... Thor, by any chance do you know where the rest of your crew went? You did say that you split up." Tony asked.

"I have yet to contact them Stark. Loki, can you by any chance locate them right now so I can direct the Bifrost there?" Thor asked. "I can direct you there but... we must act quick about it as the connection will be momentary with the strength I am having." Loki warned.

"Alright then friends and ladies, it seems I will be leaving soon. Lady Shuri, do I have your permission to land my spaceship here if I manage to get them together?" Thor asked and Shuri agreed. Soon Thor left and the others looked at each other.

"So... off to search for Lang then?" Tony suggested and everyone agreed. It is going to be a long time to settle down after this.

 **A/N: I know that this is a fairly short chapter but I am currently brain freezed on how to continue this story and I have a lot of editing to do for this book so the next chapter will be most likely up after I finish the editing i.e, mostly the end of the month or something.**

 **I hope you all liked this chapter! All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated a lot.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Rasi10 signing off**

 **Published on 20 October 2018**


	8. AN

Hello to those interested readers who want to read this book. I am sorry that have been inactive at writing this book but I was actually hoping that you would like to give your suggestion on which direction you wanted me to take this book. But sadly, I was disappointed by the lack of response.

I'll be frank over here man, I am motivated to write with the reader's support and opinion about the book. I do write as a hobby, yes but at the same time, I write for you guys who take some time off your busy schedule so I greatly respect your opinion and how you feel it should go. So I am sorry to have disappointed any of you by not updating yet, but I felt it was wrong to move on to the next chapter before knowing your thoughts and since you don't have any opinions apparently, I am going to continue how I had planned it and am not going to do it based on the teaser or trailer. Please do expect a chapter or two in the upcoming week.

Thank you,

Rasi10 signing off.


	9. Chapter 8

****A/N: Hey there! So... I've taken down the polls if you hadn't noticed as only one of them had responded to it. And I apologise for the short chapter but I guess this was something I missed out before so I had to add it as a separate chapter before moving on to the next chapters.****

 ** _ **"So... off to search for Lang then?" Tony suggested and everyone agreed. It is going to be a long time to settle down after this.**_**

"What is the last location he was found?" Rocket asked Tony and Bruce, who were trying to hack the cameras to find the location of Scott.

"According to the cameras, he had left in some truck with Hank Pym, Hope and someone else to an abandoned place where there are no cameras. So all I can say is that we need to go to this place" Tony said, pointing at the holographic map "and then split up and search for that truck. If luck is on our side, the four will be there but then again, with our shit luck... I don't know" he said.

"So... Then I guess we all must get ready to search for Lang then. I don't know how he will react to the news of his ex wife and her husband vanishing" Clint said, shaking his head at Scott's plight.

It was also then that Tony remembered something, something that he had forgotten to do. "Holy bloody fucking shit! I am sooo dead! May... Holy shit I forgot to call May!" Tony exclaimed and rushed outside, taking out his phone on the way, screaming more bloody murder.

The team just blinked at this strange reaction of Tony before looking at each other. "Any idea who this May person is?" Steve asked. "I don't know Captain, more likely related to someone who disappeared." Shuri said.

"What if she is related to that spider kid?" Rhodey popped in, looking at his phone which had just pinged. "Yup, she is that kid's aunt." Now all they could do was sympathise with Tony and hope that he doesn't come out of the conversation scarred.

Meanwhile Tony was panicking as he saw his phone having all those missed calls and messages from May. How had he not noticed it before! And how was he going to face her? What was he going to tell her? Was he going to tell her that Peter was on the spaceship with him? Was he going to tell her that he had vanished in front of him and he couldn't do anything?

'Better now than never' Tony thought before calling May before he backed away out of fear and braced for whatever was going to be thrown to him. One ring... two rings and then it was picked up and there was May, waiting for a reply.

"Hey May..." Tony said quietly and that was the trigger for May to start talking. "Tony Stark! Where is Peter? Was he in that spaceship with you? What happened to him?" May asked frantically.

"May... um... Peter... he was on that space ship even though I tried to stop him from going but he somehow clung on to the ship and if it means anything... he fought well May. We all tried we really did but..." Tony trailed off, not wanting to face it right now.

"Tony... what happened?" May asked, fear laced in her voice. "May... he vanished May, in front of my eyes and I couldn't do anything May. I... I just... I am really sorry May that I couldn't do anything about it even though we tried our best. It should've been me May, it should've been me May. I am really sorry..." Tony rambled, trying to convince May.

"Tony!" she yelled, trying to get Tony's attention and it worked. "Now listen. I don't blame you. It was his decision to go to space and fight and I am proud of it, even though I don't like it. SO do not blame yourself. And I guess you were left back to fix this Tony and I wholly believe in you for fixing this mess. Go and avenge the fallen and bring them back Tony." May said and cut the call.

All Tony could do was to stare at the phone as tears flowed freely after the conversation. After sometime, when everyone came inside, they were shocked to see Tony Stark with tears in his eyes, staring at space. "Is everything alright Tony?" Rhodey asked.

"That was unexpected" was all Tony could say before he wiped away the tears. "Come on, get ready people! We have an ant to find!" Tony said and everyone went their ways to prepare for whatever is to come.

 ** **A/N: So... that was the end of this chapter. Sorry for the length again but I couldn't ignore this part. Hopefully, if everything goes as per plan there are only 5 or 6 chapters left in the book and will mostly be completed by the end of the month...****

 ** **Hope you all liked this chapter! All comments and criticisms accepted and appreciated. (This chapter should've come out 3 days ago but I am rewriting this the third time as it got deleted every time I tried to post it.)****

 ** **Thank you all for reading!****

 ** **Rasi10 signing off****

 ** **Published on 4 April 2019****


	10. Chapter 9

After all the preparation, everyone boarded the jet and set off to find Scott. But finding the place was the easiest part, finding the truck and the man though, not so easy. Still, the team divided into groups and went to search for the truck.

It was only a matter of time before one of the groups found the truck and called the others. "You think Lang is inside that truck?" Steve asked. "According to the information Cassie said, I guess so. But how do we pull him out?" Bruce asked.

Just as Bruce asked the question, Clint accidentally leaned back on the lever to pull Scott out. "Guys look!" he said, interrupting the discussion. The others present obediently looked that way and were shocked to see the rope moving on its own.

"What did you do?" Natasha asked. "Well, I just leaned on this lever accidentally, I guess it was the lever to pull him out" Clint replied. So they just waited until Scott came out of what seemed to be the quantum realm.

And he did come out eventually. "Hank, Hope! This is not a joke! How many times-" Scott started as he enlarged himself only then noticing the audience. "What are you guys doing here? Where are Hope and Hank?" he asked in confusion.

Clint just silently pointed to the ash by the side and said "Turned to dust, only Cassie survived and she is at Wakanda right now" "But how the hell did it happen? What the fuck happened here?" he asked, pointedly looking at Tony, Steve and Bruce.

"For now, just come to Wakanda, we will explain everything over there and we all are in truce so do not get confused." Tony said and they all headed back to the jet, explaining the whole ordeal on the way there.

"So, ultimately what you are trying to say is that a purple prune who is a stone collector used the stones to demolish half the universe just because of poverty and all that shit! This is so stupid! Why can't he just create resources instead!" he asked, putting up his hands.

"I don't know, he said something about a genocide that happened on his planet and all that shit, didn't focus on what he was saying. Maybe Strange would know more about it." Tony said as the jet landed.

After that, discussions happened, plans were finalised, and Tony ended up wielding the gauntlet and survived at the cost of his arm, everyone returned (even the ones killed before the snap). Reunions happened, everything was settled and it was a happy ending for all the heroes.

 ** **A/N: I know it is quite an abrupt ending but there are two reasons for this. 1) I am not good at fight scenes/ emotional sequences and 2) I watched Endgame and let's just say that I am trying to overcome whatever happened in it so I couldn't formulate anything clearly.****

 ** **Let me just say this, I didn't give this abrupt ending due to the lack of interest. Maybe at a later date, I will elaborate the scene but right now? Endgame has taken a big toll on my writing. Hence, this is the end of the book for now. As mentioned before, I might elaborate a few scenes a little more in a later date.****

 ** **Thank you all for reading!****

 ** **Rasi10 signing off****

 ** **Published on 26 April 2019****


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